On September 30, 2025, Luca entered the world at 9:05 in the morning.

Luca was born by planned C-section after a high-risk pregnancy and spent his first days receiving phototherapy for jaundice before going home with his family. Even so, for his parents, Candace and Nick, the months that followed looked much like those experienced by countless new parents. Candace and Nick were settling into the rhythms of late-night feedings, diaper changes, and the joy of watching their son grow. After months of anticipation, they were simply grateful to have their baby boy home.

Then, in late December, Luca experienced a brief episode in which his breathing slowed down significantly. It was brief but concerning. They called Luca’s pediatrician, who believed it may have been a breath-holding spell––something that is not uncommon in newborns. The episode passed, and life moved forward.

Just weeks later, on January 10, everything changed.

It was a normal evening around Candace and Nick’s home until three-month-old Luca experienced an alarming episode where he seemed to struggle to stay conscious. The situation was rapidly becoming a medical emergency. Candace attempted to stimulate him with cold water due to his unresponsiveness, as they rushed their son to the hospital.

Once Candace and Nick arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital, doctors began searching for answers.

Scans revealed bleeding around Luca’s brain, and additional testing identified retinal hemorrhages. Specialists from multiple disciplines were consulted, as physicians worked to determine what had caused the episodes. The family also provided information about a history of blood-related disorders on both sides of Luca’s family, a factor they believed warranted further consideration as doctors searched for answers.

As Candace and Nick sat by Luca’s hospital bed during one of the most frightening moments of their lives, the focus behind the scenes was beginning to shift. What started as an urgent effort to get medical help for their son was becoming an investigation of the parents. CPS was called.

Hospital staff accused the parents of “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” In other words, they were accusing the parents of causing Luca’s brain bleed by violently shaking him back and forth––and then rushing him to the hospital. 

On January 11, CPS investigators began interviewing Candace and Nick and reviewing Luca’s medical records. Just four days after Luca arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital, CPS filed a lawsuit seeking custody of baby Luca.

For Candace and Nick, the speed of the process was overwhelming. They had brought their son to the hospital because they feared something was seriously wrong. Now that the same hospital system and the state were taking their son from them. 

Luca was taken and placed in foster care.

In a matter of days, Candace and Nick had gone from rocking their son to sleep every night, to sitting helplessly beside his hospital bed, to sitting–shocked–beside his empty bed at home. 

To Nick and Candice, it seemed that once they had been accused of Shaken Baby, other medical explanations stopped being investigated. Because of that, they still didn’t know if their son was in medical danger, and they had little faith that any of his doctors were trying to find out. 

Now, 6 months later, they are still fighting the CPS system and the medical system to get their son back. At a court hearing set for July 9, they will be asking the court for the immediate return of Luca to their care. 

A Medical Theory with “no scientific validation”

Shaken Baby Syndrome, also called Abusive Head Trauma, has raised serious controversy in the medical and legal communities in recent decades. The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled under the state’s Junk Science law that the theory could not be used as the basis of prosecution in CPS cases. 

Texas also has a junk science law. In 2024, the highest criminal court in Texas–the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals–similarly ruled that Texas’s Junk Science law prevented the conviction of a man based on the Shaken Baby theory because the medical evidence presented to support the theory was too uncertain. 

However, this ruling from the Court of Criminal Appeals only protects parents in criminal cases, not in CPS cases. Because of this, doctors are able to use the Shaken Baby theory in CPS cases and get children removed even when that same theory could not be used to convict a parent in criminal court. 

In Luca’s case, doctors identified symptoms that included a brain bleed and retinal hemorrhaging as being proof positive of child abuse–something that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals specifically rejected for criminal cases. Importantly, there were no external signs of trauma on Luca. No bruising. No broken bones. No skull fractures. Only internal bleeding. 

A Recurring Story

Unfortunately, Luca’s story is not unique. The same Shaken Baby argument is raised frequently against parents who rush their babies into the hospital when they have seizures or other abnormal brain activity. 

In 2024, Evelyn Boatright was removed from her parents for 9 months after Cook Children’s Hospital accused her parents of Shaken Baby. After testimony from numerous medical experts established that the hospital had rushed to judgment and failed to consider other medical explanations, Evelyn was finally returned home. 

The Canada family, who also rushed their child into the hospital in January, is also the subject of a CPS investigation prompted by Shaken Baby Allegations from Cook Children’s. 

The Boatrights and the Canadas are just two of many Texas families with the same story. Family Freedom Project has defended both families.

Luca, Candace, and Nick are the latest family to be separated based on the rushed medical judgment of a Texas hospital and the reliance by CPS on a discredited medical theory. 

FFP is helping Nick and Candace prepare for a major court hearing on July 9, where they will be seeking the return of Luca to their family. 

Families like Luca’s should not have to fight this battle alone. Your support helps provide the legal advocacy, expert resources, and public accountability needed to protect parental rights and help bring children home.